The English star has been tapped for a key role in Universal’s upcoming sequel MAMMA MIA: HERE WE GO AGAIN!, the Tracking Board has confirmed. She’ll be playing the younger version of Meryl Streep’s character, Donna.

Officially announced in May, this new film is a sequel to the 2008 musical movie, which, up until Wonder Woman recently topped it, had been highest-grossing movie domestically directed by a woman, and based on the jukebox Broadway musical.

Written and to be directed by The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel writer Ol Parker, the sequel will feature a series of flashbacks (hence James stepping into the role of a young Donna) to show how the various relationships in the original film were formed.

Original cast members like Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, Christine Baranski, and Colin Firth will be returning for the sequel to sing ABBA songs not featured in the first film. In 2015’s Cinderella, James performed a version of “A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes.”

Littlestar’s Judy Craymer and Playtone’s Gary Goetzman, who co-produced the first film, are also returning for the sequel. Craymer also created and produced the stage musical. Continuing the reunion, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus are once more on board to exec produce as well as provide music and lyrics.

Kristen Lowe and Lexi Barta will oversee for the studio.

James first gained attention for appearing the later season of Downton Abbey and then became a breakout star in the aforementioned Cinderella. Most recently, she appeared in Wright’s Baby Driver and A&E’s adaptation of War & Peace. She’s repped by Tavistock Wood Management in the U.K. and UTA.

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